


Seven Stories Tall, Long Way to Fall

by Patchworkearth



Category: Xenogears
Genre: Arguably rescued this fic just for Emeralda, Gen, Minor Plothole Filling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 17:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12370137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patchworkearth/pseuds/Patchworkearth
Summary: The night before Solaris. Seven conversations. One last moment to breathe.





	Seven Stories Tall, Long Way to Fall

“Here.” Yui's gentle fingers slid along Fei's throat, a strangely intimate touch, and he tensed for a moment. But she pressed firmly, just to the side of his adam's apple, and smiled in reassurance. “This should do it. How does it feel?”

Fei brought his own fingers to his neck, and felt the light ribbing of the patch that she'd applied. “It's really stuck on there, yeah. You really don't think anyone will notice?”

She shook her head. She looked sly, confident – it was amazing that Fei had never really noticed this side of Citan's wife before, She had always been there, ubiquitous, the calming counterpart to the Doc's flights of whimsy, his mad projects. A brilliant chef, whom her husband was always teasing. Ever-patient, always ready with a bright laugh for her quiet daughter.

A warrior of Shevat.

“No, they won't see it. The color matches your skin pretty well.” He was sitting on a kitchen table in the quarters that Citan's family shared, a tastefully-appointed suite in the royal palace. Yui was a Sage's granddaughter, and she was an important figure, here—important enough that Shevat had traveled half the globe's length to retrieve her when she'd called, had collected up the survivors of Lahan without hesitation. “That said, I think we could do with applying a little make-up, to help conceal the seams.”

“Make-up?” Fei goggled. “Uh, Yui, I don't think...”

She tut-tutted him, playfully slapped his shoulder. “Don't be such a man, Fei, relax. I promise, Bart and Rico will never notice you're wearing it.”

His legs swung beneath the table, like a small boy's. He always felt like a child when Yui was scolding him. “Well... I mean, I guess... if it's necessary...”

She picked up some foundation from a nearby side table. “Now, remember. The transceiver has a very short range – it has to, or the signals would be detected. So you need to stay close to Elly, or to my husband, for it to work.”

“Right.” He nodded, and then winced as she began puffing his neck. “And I just speak under my breath, and they do the same with theirs, and we'll pick up each other on the earpiece?”

“And they'll be able to translate for you, without anyone noticing.”

“Wow.” He resisted the urge to touch it again, to pick at it. “Shevat's technology is incredible.” He shook his head. “Yui... I never could have imagined... when I was in Lahan...”

“Mm.” She crossed her arms. “Well, it's certainly true, Fei. Things are more advanced. I...” She frowned. “I wish we'd been able to share more with the people still on the ground below.” So many secrets, secrets all of them have kept. “But this isn't Shevite technology, Fei. Citan made this.”

“Oh! Well, that figures.” He chuckled. “Is there anything that the Doc can't do?”

She gave him a long look, and then spoke in a measured voice. “Yes.”

***

It was before, during their first visit to Shevat, when she'd first seen it.

“No, I don't know _why_ Queen Zephyr asked me to bring you down here...” Maria all but skipped wherever she walked. “I think she said it was Wiseman's idea.” Elly couldn't help but feel envious. Here, in Shevat, Maria was home. Even after all Maria had endured – the true fates of her parents, the origin of Siebzehn – Maria had a home, a place that welcomed her. Elly thought about what she'd left behind, and how much was unfinished...

“Maria?” Elly had stopped halfway down the stairs, and Maria had turned. “Do you know much about that man? Wiseman?”

She shook her head. “Only that the Queen trusts him. Why?”

It had been the escape from Zeboim. Wiseman's Gear holding back that... that thing, that red blur, that had attacked them. The Demon of Elru. The terror of Commander Ramsus. And they'd had to run, to leave him behind, because Stein had taken the girl, had taken Emeralda away from her... from them... When Stein took off, she'd begged them to go back for Wiseman, but the entrance to the dig site had collapsed.

Why had she feared for Wiseman so?

She had once again followed Maria as they headed further into the depths of the palace. She was unable to give Maria the answer. She'd wanted to save Wiseman for Fei, but also for herself. She'd wanted to ask Wiseman about Grahf.

And why Grahf had saved her life.

They reached prison block, and took a corner. A Shevite guard gave them a glance, and then nodded that they could pass.

Wiseman was safe and sound, as though it had never happened. He'd given Elly the briefest tilt of the head, and now he was gone, again, as if the whole thing was supposed to be funny.

“We're here.” Maria had stepped aside so that Elly could enter.

The room was giant, but many rooms were giant. It was built to house a Gear. But this Gear was...

“Ah!” Elly took a step back. It looked like Vierge, but of course it wasn't. In her heart, she knew exactly what it was. Knew why she felt warmth radiate from it, towards only her. It was almost as if it were singing...

“It's Sophia's.” Maria's voice was soft, gentle – Sophia's name was always spoken in that tone – but she looked confused. Elly just kept staring at the feather-like swoops from the Gear's hips, from its crest. What did those look like, to her? To Miang's gear, maybe? It had those wings. Or... “Elly? You okay?”

It's okay. Come join with me. Let's be again together, as we were... “No. No, I can't.” Elly pushed past Maria. “No, I'm sorry, I can't...”

And that had been it.

Now, on the eve of going back to Solaris, Elly found herself in that room again, sitting against the opposite wall from the giant machine, hugging her legs. She was dressed in her Gebler uniform, for the first time since the Thames. Since those days alone, on the shipwreck, with Fei. And this beautiful and horrible thing that had called to her, she was here again, with the same questions, the same doubts.

And more besides: there was that girl, that green-haired girl, who was upstairs right now scaring people. The feathers looked a bit like her Gear, too, was that it?

“I thought I'd find you down here.” Elly looked up to see the edge of a familiar red cape.

“Oh... Margie.”

“Wow.” Margie sat down beside her, looking up at the Omnigear. “This was... it was really hers?”

“Yes.” Elly, somehow, just knew.

“I can't even frame that in my mind. This is all so strange.” Margie breathed out. “But I had to see it.”

“Is it true?” Elly didn't look at her. “The painting? That Sophia... that she looks like...”

Margie clapped her hands on her knees. “Let's go back upstairs together. We never get to talk.”

“I...” Elly looked at the Gear, who seemed to be judging her. “Okay.” She accepted Margie's hand, and tried to convince herself that like Maria, she had a place where she belonged.

***

One of the only things that Emeralda had to call her own was a memory of candles. Kim had placed them on that confection one at a time, smiling and looking back at her, in her tube. Candles were a part of Kim, Kim-Kim or Fei's Kim, and so when the Bagboy was setting up candles, too, Emeralda found herself drawn to come see what he was doing.

Bagboy was Bagboy because he wore a big blue bag, with a bow on top. His hair was white, even though Emeralda remembered somehow that white was old. Emeralda remembered lots of things despite not knowing why, like what shoes were, or arms. When Emeralda rode her Gear she didn't have arms, but Emeralda could make herself have arms or no arms, so that was okay. She also remembered how to ride her Gear. But the bad men had helped her remember that part.

Bagboy set up his candles in a line, and Emeralda practiced counting them. Counting was hard when it wasn't data, like when you were fighting. Bagboy turned around, and Emeralda became a tree so that he wouldn't see her. Trees were green on top, like she was. Green – that's why Kim named her Emeralda!

Bagboy smiled, and he smiled a liiiittle bit like Kim, and that was nice. Bagboy wasn't so bad, like some of the others. Green-Man was green, like Emeralda's hair, but he was always mean-looking. Rat-man smelled funny, and One-Eye and other One-Eye didn't pay attention to her. The only ones that she liked besides Kim were the girl in the goggles, who was always nice, and the girl in the poofy hat, who everyone liked, and the other one that she forgot the name of, the one who was always bringing her candy. Oh! His name meant “house,” she remembered that part.

“I hope Emeralda doesn't come in.” Bagboy was still smiling. “Because I'd never be able to figure out if she was hiding.”

Emeralda laughed. Oops! Trees don't laugh!

“Gotcha.” Bagboy waved at her. “How are you doing today, Emeralda?”

“Bagboy tricked me.” Emeralda turned back into herself.

“Oh, Emeralda...” He shook his head slightly. “You should call me Billy. 'Bagboy' is okay, but Billy is my _name_.”

“Yes, Billy is Billy.” Why did she do that? She didn't know. It was hard to stop. None of these people were Kim. And Kim was Kim. So the rest were just not-Kim. But some of them were nice. So she should try to be nice, too.

“Thank you, Emeralda.” Pleased, Billy coaxed her a little closer. “Do you want to join me?”

“What is Billy doing with the candles?” She reached out, and gently ran her finger along one. Finally touching one. It wasn't Kim's candles, that she never got to touch.

“I'm lighting a candle for each one of us.” Billy fished in his “bag” – his cloak – for a matchbook. “Because we're going to do something dangerous tomorrow, and I want to pray for us to all come home safely together.”

Emeralda let her finger become a candle. But she didn't like that, so she stopped. “What is 'pray,' Billy?”

“Come sit with me.” Billy patted the deck floor next to him. “And we can do it together.”

Emeralda sat down. The floor was cold here in a side wing of the Yggdrasil's engine room, and so she made herself warmer. “Is Billy... Are _you_ scared?”

Billy looked thoughful for a moment. “Yes. But to my surprise, Emeralda, I still have faith.”

“What is 'faith?'”

“That's an excellent question.” Billy began lighting the candles, one after another. “I used to be so sure that I knew the answer, and maybe I don't anymore. But I believe that we'll be okay, Emeralda. I trust our friends, and I have to trust myself.” His voice grew quiet. “And I trust my father.”

“Father.” Emeralda picked at her scarf. “Kim is Father.” People didn't seem to like when she called Kim as Kim, instead of Fei's Kim.

“And he'll keep us safe.” Billy placed his hand on her shoulder. “He promised. And if we don't have anything else to rely on, we have believing in the ones who care about us.”

“Care...” Emeralda ran this one through her mind for a bit. “I care... for Billy.”

Billy put his hands together in prayer. “Watching you grow in these few days, Emeralda... I can still believe there's a God looking out for us. And that's faith.”

***

Rico slid onto one of the stools at the bar in the Gun Room, and Old Maison put down his dishrag.

“Master Rico! Can I get you anything?” Maison proffered a bottle of strong Kislev whiskey from beneath the bar, but Rico shook his head. Then, after a moment, he glanced around to make sure that they were alone.

“You know.”

“Ah! Of course.” Maison placed a glass in front of Rico and filled it with milk. “Your secret, as always, is safe with me, sir.”

“Yeah.” Rico placed his hands around the glass. “So, I don't get it. You guys took back your country. Shouldn't some of you, y'know... _be_ there?”

Maison smiled. “Ah, well. Miss Margie has spent most of these past two days meeting with representatives from Shevat, arranging aid for the rebuilding process, and strengthening ties between this country and Aveh and Nisan, based on the relationship both have to Sophia. And I know that the Young Master and Sigurd as well have both been making such inroads. Certainly, Solaris is a threat to all nations.”

Rico scratched at his forehead with one giant hand, and then sipped from the glass with a surprising gentleness. “I get those things as far as it goes, but...”

“Master Rico.” Maison gave Rico's hand a pat. “Remember the things that we once discussed?”

It had been the night before the move to liberate Aveh and Nisan. Rico had made a poor showing of himself during the planning meeting. Specifically, he'd thrown a table across the room, and had nearly broken Fei's arm when Fei had tried to restrain him and calm him down. The subject of how Kislev would factor into the upcoming military maneuvers had come up, and Rico had... well, he's not even sure what he'd reacted to.

Fei had suggested meeting with the Kaiser in secret and brokering a truce while Bart led the team that rescued Nisan and Sigurd and Maison the retaking of the capital. Bart had argued strenuously against allying with Kislev until Aveh was back under their control. Questions from both sides of the argument had been thrown at Elly regarding the complement of soldiers at the Gebler base in Bledavik, and Rico had finally just snapped.

Had he wanted to ally with Kislev? Or had he not wanted to?

In the end, Bart had gotten his way (as he always seemed to), and they'd moved to Nisan first. Rico had been unable to sleep, and Maison was at the bar, as he always was. Maison was a former royal knight and a veteran of battle – Rico had pegged him from the start as more than he looked. You didn't stay at the head of the pack in prison for that long without being able to judge someone's eyes. In the end, mad at everyone (and mostly at himself), it had been Maison that he'd gone to talk to.

“So, you raised him,” Rico had asked, and Maison had of course nodded proudly. “What's it like...” And he hadn't known how to ask it. His finger grazed the memento chain around his neck, just beneath the deactivated bomb collar that he still wore. The two sides of his life. “He was a kid, and he knew he was the prince?”

How long had Rico known? _Did_ he know? Maybe he knew nothing at all. But there was a sick and sad feeling, a cold-burning fire, deep within him that probably always understood. And somehow, in that moment, Maison understood, as well. And so they'd talked, and it was as if Maison was a decade or more younger once again, calling the Young Master in from games to impart to him his duty. Possibly damning him, Maison sometimes feared, but in the end Bart had proven to be the same man as his father, the spirit that Maison had pledged to serve.

“The Young Master Bartholomew Fatima is no longer king,” Maison now said, “But he is still the leader of his people. And he established a suitable group of representatives to operate in his stead long enough to form a parliament, and in so doing, begin to reach across to Kislev. It will take time...” And Maison was smart enough here to say nothing of the Kaiser, “...But that time can only be bought if the world is safe from Solaris. There is nothing that he would desire more now than to be with his countrymen, from whom he's been separated for so long. But a leader's life is given up for those of his people.”

What had Kaiser Sigmund ever given up for his people? Rico could imagine very little. He seemed to have given up little even for his own family. And yet, he'd heard the stories of what happened at the Kislev front, when Id had demolished both sides, and Aveh had been ripe for the plucking. Sigmund had held off. It didn't match what little Rico knew about the bastard, and the thought of that ate up Rico's insides something awful. And so he drank milk to settle his stomach, and prepared to crack some heads together tomorrow, and hope it would one day lead to a life where he could understand even his own feelings, much less this strange and broken world he'd grown up in.

***

“There are so many friends chu play with, now!” Chu-Chu danced around Midori and the other girl as they blinked at each other. “It's so nice when we all get chu meet each other!”

Midori looked at the strange girl, with her white hair and her red eyes, and thought of her own father.

“Well, good luck with that, Chu-Chu.” Fei had his hands in his pockets, and he was looking from one girl to the other. “I'm not sure that Primera and Midori will... um... have much to say to each other...”

Midori wasn't sure when she realized that she could understand what others thought, what they felt. It just seemed to happen, had happened for as long as she could remember. People's minds and hearts just opened to her, with so very little bidding. It was often too much for her, the knowledge of so many people, and in a crowded place like Shevat, it was all she could do not to collapse; so many days she spent instead just curled in her bed, trying to block them out. The only ones she could communicate with were of the Chu-Chu tribe – something in them matched what she herself had, and they could speak, instead of the onrush of noise that threatened to drown her.

When they'd gone to the surface, her father had built their home up high on a mountain, away from the village, to keep her safe, a blessed isolation. It was one of the only direct kindnesses he'd ever found time for, and she knew – she knew! - that somewhere within, part of him enjoyed the autonomy and high vantage point that their home provided.

No, her father was the hardest at all – if all secrets were thrust nakedly at her, if all things hidden were forced so violently into her mind and heart, then to have as a father the keeper of _all_ secrets was the hardest of all to bear. His every motion concealed something else, and as much as she loved her father, sometimes he threatened to doom her completely.

And so now she was here, with this girl Primera, whose thoughts were plain without her voice to carry them, and she saw the way her father Jesiah had suffered for her, and how Billy had relied upon her when she could barely live herself, and she understood. She understood.

She took Primera's hand.

“See! It's so easy chu make friends!” Chu-Chu hopped up and down, clapping her hands.

***

She looked at the man standing before the throne for as long as she could bear it, and then closed her eyes. “Recite for me again the details of the plan.”

The man adjusted his glasses. “Tomorrow, at the appointed hour, the Yggdrasil, helmed by Sigurd, will make a brief combative fly-by of the now-revealed Solaris. During this distraction, Siebzehn will use its graviton cannon to disrupt the weakened gate projected by Solaris, and will fly in for the drop-off. We will move in small units. Fei, Elly, and myself will travel together, and Jesiah will lead Bart, Billy, Rico, Emeralda, Chu-Chu, and Hammer in the second group. Our goal is to obtain enough information to initiate a full-scale assault. To that end, the three of us will attempt to gain access to the first class districts while Jesiah's team splits up at their entry point.”

Queen Zephyr nodded slowly. “Do you think that either you or Elhaym will be able to move about unmolested in the higher class districts?”

Citan frowned slightly. She knew that he knew what she was actually getting at. More than “will they be aware,” it was a question of “are you already expected.” She had been doing this very dance with this same man for many years now, and this was likely the end of it, no matter what happened.

The first time he had come, he had nearly killed them. The second, he had taken her champion away from them. The last, an infiltrator had followed on his heels. What bad tidings did “Citan Uzuki” now bring for Shevat?

“We believe that Elly is only listed as 'Missing in Action.' Her father is a powerful man, and Gebler can't bear the embarrassment.” Citan spoke nothing of himself. Nor did she expect him to.

“Go on.”

“When Jesiah's team divides, Hammer will attempt to map as much of Solaris as he can in the allotted time. Bart, Rico, and Chu-Chu will move as one, and Jessie will take his son and Emeralda separately. Bart's team will be responsible for troop sizes and placement, and Jessie will be assessing Solaris armaments and in-built defense systems, which have no doubt changed since we were last within its borders.” Which meant, the Queen knew, that Jesiah trusted his son to do that job without him—because Jesiah would no doubt be keeping an eye on Citan. She might have suggested the maneuver herself, if she did not understand Jessie so well. “If sabotage is possible without discovery, then we will engage, but the primary orders are reconnaissance only.”

“Am I to assume that the recall point has been established, then?” She leveled her gaze at him. “When last we all spoke, the extraction procedure had not been laid out.”

He met her eyes and held them. Would there even _be_ an extraction? Or was Citan leading his friends in to die?

Queen Zephyr had lived for so long. She was so tired. And she had seen so much already. And so there was something particularly fascinating about this man, who was one of few whose actions she could never predict. He had been playing both sides, all sides, of this conflict for so long, that to reach these ending stages at last...

She had judged him long ago, when Yui had brought him into Shevat's fold, and she knew that he was at heart a good man. But it had been a long, long time since being a good man was enough.

She thought of the generations of good men that she had seen die, and she waited for him to answer, wondering who it was that would be lost this time.

***

Hammer was inspecting the pistol, feeling its heft, running one oil stained finger along its length when the door opened; he quickly tucked it into his jacket.

"There you are." Bart had the casual laugh of a friend, of a man who always remembered that Hammer lived here, aboard this ship, in this room next to the roar of the engines. "We're all having a banquet in the palace. Wash your hands or whatever and come on, don't want to keep her waiting."

"I'm invited?" he squeaked, and hated himself for doing it.

Bart frowned. "Of course you are. You're coming with us tomorrow, aren't you? Let's get going."

He didn't wash his hands. Didn't shower, or change his clothes. He didn't have much, anyway, only what Master Rico left behind for him; and there was no shower that could wash clean the smell of failure, of prison, of sweaty deals in alleyways and malfunctioning goods.

He'd shot a god from the sky, once. He'd dared to believe. But it seemed a lifetime ago, and he'd faded slowly away in shadows. Not being seen was his gift, after all.

On the elevator ride up through the Yggdrasil, Bart turned his good eye on him. "You seem nervous. You've met the Queen already."

"Oh... just..." Just the feeling of all those eyes. Like being let out like a pet in the yard. Not for the first time, he'd noticed he was the only demi-human aboard. If you didn't count what Master Rico was. Bro said he didn't care, but sometimes he wondered. "The mission tomorrow! It's scary... enemy territory."

"Well." Bart crossed his arms, looked down. "I don't like making people do things they don't want to." This man was supposed to be a king. "But Citan says we need you. Are you asking not to go?"

"No! No, I'm..." Needed. "I can be nervous, right?"

"Hmm. Good question." Bart studied his face. "I think it's natural to be scared. But 'nervous' isn't 'scared.' Fear keeps you safe. Nervous doesn't."

Hammer let his shoulders slump, felt the weight of the gun hang heavy just over his heart. "Would it be better if I just said I was scared, then?"

Bart grinned. "Yeah. 'Cause then I can say, 'Me too, bud.' And we can all get drunk."

He had no idea of the intensity that radiated out of him. Hammer wanted to shrink in his presence. And he was nothing compared to some of the others.

The elevator doors opened. Bart stepped out, and then outstretched his beckoning arm.

"C'mon, man, we're about to make history."

Hammer stepped through.

**Author's Note:**

> Excavated this from an old draft, which was meant to be much longer. Didn't want it to go to waste... These kids evoke a lot of feelings in me.


End file.
